Category: Boxing

Former world heavyweight champion, Briton Tyson Fury, in an interview with ESPN’s “First Take” program, dedicated to the announcement of his fight against Otto Wallin on September 14 in Las Vegas, said that he will strive for early victory, because in the first fight, which ended in a draw in the United States in December last year, the judges were too supportive of the American.

“Last time, on my part, a mistake that I will no longer make was to believe that we are on an equal footing, which we don’t know, so I have to knock him out,” said Fury about the second fight with Wilder, which is tentatively planned at the beginning of next year. “I don’t think I can win on points here [in the USA], because I obviously won that fight.” I outboxed him in all rounds except the two in which he knocked me down. ”

“Obviously, it will not be possible for me to win on points, so I need to change my style, which I am glad because I have never been so strong, I have never beat so hard, I have never been so confident in myself as at the moment. This time I will knock him out. I’m not going to box, because we know what it gave us last time, isn’t it, so I think this time he or I will be knocked out. ”

Promoter Eddie Hearn ruled out the possibility of a rematch between WBA, IBF and WBO champion Andy Ruiz and former U.S. title holder Anthony Joshua, announced today by Ruiz. According to Hearn, an American can’t influence the place and other conditions of the battle, although he is now the champion.

“The contract for a rematch was signed before the first fight,” Hearn explained in an interview with Sky Sports, commenting on Ruiz’s statement. – There is no other contract. Our responsibility is to notify Ruiz of the time, date and place of the match. We did it. That’s all. The contract obliges them to hold a rematch. There were no conversations between our teams that the battle might not take place. I don’t see any problem. ”

“Any delay – and Ruiz will lose titles that he is unlikely to like,” added Hearn. – He has a choice: to start a lawsuit, which can exclude him from boxing for many years, or to defend his belts against an opponent whom he has already won, and get a lot of money for it. I have no doubt that he will prefer to fight ”.

Recall that Andy Ruiz, communicating with fans during a live broadcast on Instagram, said that he was not satisfied with Saudi Arabia as a venue for the fight, and the rematch should take place on his terms, and he wants to hold it in the United States.

John Wirth, co-promoter of mandatory IBF heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev, believes his decision to appeal to the IBF verdict to grant Andy Ruiz a deferral of mandatory defense to hold a rematch against Anthony Joshua is perfectly correct in light of recent events.

“We are worried about reports that Ruiz has not yet given his consent for a rematch,” Wirth quoted BoxingScene.com. – The fact that Joshua and his team forced Ruiz to accept the condition for an immediate rematch is a direct violation of paragraph 3B of the IBF rules [“The contract for a champion match cannot contain conditions or provisions guaranteeing any participant a return champion match, if such a condition or the situation hinders the mandatory title defense ”- IBF Championship Rules], and I’m not sure that Matchroom will be able to enforce it.”

Recall that according to the IBF decision, Ruiz received a postponement on two conditions: a rematch with Joshua must pass no later than December 7, and his winner must hold mandatory IBF title defense no later than May 31. According to Wirth, they want Ruiz and Joshua to confirm in writing their acceptance of these conditions and commit themselves to comply with them.

“We also want to know the deadline by which fighters must accept the IBF terms, especially in light of the fact that an agreement on the fight has not yet been reached. We need to know in which direction we should move: if a rematch takes place and all three zones are played in it, we plan to organize another fight for Puleva in November, ”the promoter said.

“I want to say one more thing: Pulev would agree to box with Ruiz even in the USA, even in Mexico or even in Timbuktu. Joshua and his team forget one of the main rules of boxing: when a boxer becomes a champion, everything changes, ”added Wirth.